I think so!

Wednesday, January 26, 2000, 02:17 a.m. Pacific Lawmakers say ferry-fare raises aren't for ballot

by Dionne Searcey Seattle Times Olympia bureau

OLYMPIA - Lawmakers looking for more money for state ferries say they disagree with the attorney general's opinion that Initiative 695 requires voters to decide on fare increases. House transportation leaders are proposing legislation that would put that view on the record and allow the state to raise ferry fares without voter scrutiny. The bill would not technically amend the initiative. Rep. Ruth Fisher, who is sponsoring the bill, acknowledges it could invite a legal challenge, which could be added to the host of challenges already filed against I-695. "So we'll get another lawsuit," said Fisher, co-chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee. I-695, which took effect less than a month ago, cut car-license taxes and mandated voter approval for fee and tax increases. The measure has sent legislators scrambling to replace $54 million eliminated from the state's ferry budget in the next three years. Last month state Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who is in charge of defending I-695, issued a lengthy legal opinion that exempted bus-fare increases, among other things, from voter approval but required ferry increases to be placed on the ballot. Fisher, D-Tacoma, said the Attorney General's Office didn't dig deep enough in researching its opinion. Gregoire had said increases in fees for services that only the state provides, such as liquor sales and transit service, are not subject to voter approval. That school of thought should be applied to ferries, too, Fisher said, because the state has a monopoly on ferry service. "We're simply trying to clarify the attorney general's opinion," she said. "And we need to start filling the (ferry budget) hole." James Pharris, assistant attorney general, said the ferry-fare recommendation was "one suggestion in the course of a long memo." "We've never suggested our view is the only view," Pharris said. "On the other hand, we've never heard anything to lead us to change our minds." Bill would create task force Fisher's bill also would require reviews for any fare increases and would create a task force to study increases before they are levied. Sen. Don Benton, the ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee, said he respects Fisher's views on the issue but didn't think he would support her bill. "I would be very cautious before I would vote for any piece of legislation that smacks the will of the people," said Benton, who lives in Vancouver. Sid Morrison, head of the state Department of Transportation, said that without the bill the ferry system could be in serious trouble. "It's the only way we see to salvage the ferry system," he said. "It's in the spirit of what (I-695) vot

-- Craig Carson (craigcar@crosswinds.net), January 30, 2000

Answers

They certainly are working long and hard to subvert the will of the people, I'll grant you that. if I read the spirit of I-695 correctly, it would appear that if we are tinkering with something that is funded out of state revenues, we ALL ought to get a vote on it.

Mikey

-- Mike Alworth (m_alworth@olympusnet.com), January 30, 2000.

Get the DOT out of running the ferries, NOW.

I-695 is a call for privatization. I don't understand why the attorney general exempted transit and liquor stores.

-- Matthew M. Warren (mattinsky@msn.com), January 30, 2000.

Both Fisher and the person who hires and fires the secretary of the DOT are up for election in about 10 months. If the voters want to fire them, there will be their opportunity. My bet is they won't.

As for the privatization comment, I again cite a Callaghan column in the TNT. http://www.tribnet.com/frame.asp?/news/columnists/ peter_callaghan/0111b15.html In a nutshell, everyone is busy interpreting the votes of about 2,000,000 people into 2,000,000 different views of why 695 passed. You know what, they're all right, and they're all wrong.

"Incredible how the same pile of tea leaves can look so different, depending on who's reading them."

-- Patrick (patrick1142@yahoo.com), February 01, 2000.